Skip to main content

Review of making second Kontakt with the R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

As I said in my first Kontakt review, I wasn't really sure that I wanted to see this show. However come Sunday and a second opportunity to see it, I was genuinely looking forward to it.

With the show now having departed, for my second review I will elaborate a touch more on happenings, which initially I shied away from as spoilers. My actor for my second encounter was 15 year old Michael. He had the enviable task unlike Michael before him of dealing with someone who knew quite a bit of what was coming. As those surgical gloves went on I this time was certain that the R&D were not going to overstep the boundary and do a full medical. I had also learnt that a crisp sandwich was something that should be left in the memory, so cheese was a much more sensible option.

I was able to complete the calculation generally unaided and managed to express an exaggerated shock at the latter outcome. The game of Jenga managed to stay stable once again and rather amazingly managed to bring three of the same questions back up again despite so many on offer. The conversations were different and as before fascinating. This is the magnificent thing of this show. An adult having a conversation with someone so junior to themselves is an amazing and enlightening thing. Both my two actors, Michael and Jacob, were wonderfully entertaining conversationalists with wise and intelligent thoughts. I am happy to made Kontakt with both of them. I do though have a tremendous disappointment though that I didn't get to see the female perspective of the show. I truly would have loved to have experienced the other angle to see how things played out differently.

There was much that was familiar with the show of course, but seeing it performed by a different person still gave it a unique edge. I once again was the out blinking master though. The dancing again offered new levels of glory and having already experienced it before, all terror thoughts were gone. The conga once again happened, and this time here was also the addition of a bit of limbo and though with my height I was regretting it for a second, I remained intact.

So, at no point will you ever have experienced anything like this and if you didn't you missed a treat. Nothing at Royal & Derngate that I have seen so far has generated as much pre-show or post-show discussion. There was trepidation before, there was generally absolute joy and amazement after. I spoke to no one who disliked it, although I am sure that someone didn't get it. This really needs to happen again as more people need to experience this. However more importantly more people need to be assured like I have been that there is nothing at all to be worried about. This is simply put, fantastic interactive theatre and I for one will be buying a ticket or two when it happens again, and as I have said, it must!


Performance reviewed: Sunday 21st June, 2015 (matinee) at the Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton.

Kontakt was performed by the R&D Youth Theatre at the Royal & Derngate between Thursday 18th June and Sunday 21st June, 2015.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate visit their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/

Popular posts from this blog

Review of The House She Built at The Black Diamond, Northampton

Independent theatre company Nerve Theatre was founded in January 2025, when its first original production, Broken Party , took to the stage at Benn Hall in Rugby. That was followed the same year by a modern retelling of Frankenstein . Now, for 2026, Nerve Theatre founder Mia Ballard has written and directed The House She Built , staged for three nights at The Black Diamond, Northampton. The House She Built , set in 1950s Hollywood, is a dark thriller influenced by the lives of Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn and their treatment as women within the cogs of Hollywood. Our leading lady here is Nancy Carlton, who returns to Mellor Brothers Productions to make one final film. But something awaits her, and the scene is set for a period thriller that explores the grimy world behind Hollywood's apparently glamorous days. Michaela Clement-Hayes leads the cast as Nancy Carlton, the star troubled by her past, but returning to her old studio for that final mov...

Review of Flashdance - The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes

For the second week running, the Milton Keynes Theatre is overrun by a wave of eighties nostalgia as Selladoor's production of Flashdance The Musical follows hot on the heels of An Officer and a Gentlemen. However, is it nice to have more of that classic decade upon the stage? The answer mostly is yes, despite the fact that the story driving Flashdance is that light and flimsy at times, you just have to sit back and watch the dancing and the bright colours to get you through. Welding genius, Alex Owens, has her sights set for a bigger thing beyond this tired and struggling factory in Pittsburgh.  Hoping to take her dancing beyond Harry's bar, she plans to make big, via Shipley Dance Academy.  Then, also drifting into her life comes Nick Hurley, who initially unknown to her, happens to be the factory bosses son, the scene is set for romance. Flashdance has a generally excellent cast led with a tremendously good performance from Joanne Clifton as Alex Owens. Those famil...

Review of Legally Blonde at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

As I settled down in my chair at the Derngate to see this touring production of the musical Legally Blonde , I generally had no idea what I was letting myself in for. Never having seen the film, read little up on the show, as is my want, and sitting in a clearly unbalanced gender demographic, this show was quite clearly not targeted at me. As the opening number, a catchy, but the incredibly screechy song, Omigod You Guys was performed, I was not, let's say, won over at first. However, it was clear that this just served as an overwhelming and ridiculous setup to the boldness of the show. The second number, Serious was a much better experience and genuinely funny song and throughout the tracks to come, there was much better to come. Our lead is Elle Woods (a charming, bubbly Lucie Jones), a typical caricatured blonde whose sole aim in life is to get the hand of her love in life Warner Huntingdon III (Liam Doyle). When he breaks up with her in pursuit of someone "serious...